Posts: 10

Topic: Some Alien Props from Halloween 2011

Hello all. New to the site but I ran into Teague over at The NODE website a few months ago with some of my Alien creations. I wanted to share some of them here.

These are all pretty low-budget (except for the animated chestburster which has pneumatics and a prop controller) and are primarily cardboard, chicken wire, duct tape, and papier mache with carpet glue. I've got some "making of" pictures over in my Tumblr site if anyone is interested.

The Alien lifecycle starts with the egg pod (or for you what-came-first-chicken-types - the queen... but I didn't get to build a queen). These all started life out as a huge balloon. I created 3 different eggs; closed, opening, and open. They were painted with what is affectionately called Monster Mud - a mixture of wall spackle, paint, and some sand to give texture. These guys were presented with some color LEDs and a fog machine.Making of: http://avant1963.tumblr.com/post/105925 … us-34-days

After a gestation period (that seems to fluctuate from movie to movie) the little bugger is ready to be born, though the chest of the host. For his trouble, the host dies. This one was animated with a windshield wiper motor that shook the body and then an air ram that shot the little Alien through the chest all run by a prop controller.Video in action: http://www.flickr.com/photos/avant1963/ … 7997086090

Once our little guy is all grown up (timing also seems to vary per movie) he becomes a full size Xenomorph. The one I chose to build is based off the original Giger design from the first Alien which housed a human skull under the head-dome. He had a mouth that opened and closed and a working tongue with the handy extra mouth. I built it on a little rig that I could roll back and forth from the wall to have it lurch out at people.Making of: http://avant1963.tumblr.com/post/105923 … us-34-days

Re: Some Alien Props from Halloween 2011

Awesome. Thanks Teague for the idea of the banners - I've used them to check out other stuff too and spend more time in the creations forum (Like watching ARK which has also seems to re-emerged on the forum and is amaze-balls, Trey). I still get startled when I come to the site and see me up there with the facehugger on.

FYI - I just started something I am calling "A Dalek Year" where I am going to chronicle, day by day, building a full-size Dalek in my basement. There is some info out on my tumblr (http://avant1963.tumblr.com/) and the first 2 days if anyone is interested. I'm feeling a little anxious about this one.